EVEREST Disk Benchmark

Many enthusiasts are familiar with the Lavalys EVEREST benchmark suite, but very few are aware of the Disk Benchmark tool available inside the program. The EVEREST Disk Benchmark performs linear read and write bandwidth tests on each drive, and can be configured to use file chunk sizes up to 1MB (which speeds up testing and minimizes jitter in the waveform). Because of the full sector-by-sector nature of linear testing, Benchmark Reviews endorses this method for testing SSD products, as detailed in our Solid State Drive Benchmark Performance Testing article. However, Hard Disk Drive products suffer a lower average bandwidth as the capacity draws linear read/write speed down into the inner-portion of the disk platter. EVEREST Disk Benchmark does not require a partition to be present for testing, so all of our benchmarks are completed prior to drive formatting.

The high-performance storage products tested with EVEREST Disk Benchmark are connected to the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 motherboard. Using the 1MB block size, read performance of the 100GB ADATA S599 Solid State Drive measured an average 256.8 MBps with a similar maximum peak of 259.8 MBps. Linear write-to tests were next...

Linear disk benchmarks are superior tools in my opinion, because they scan from the first physical sector to the last. A side affect of many linear write-performance test tools is that the data is erased as it writes to every sector on the drive. Normally this isn't an issue, but it has been shown that partition table alignment will occasionally play a role in overall SSD performance (HDDs don't suffer this problem).

The waveform chart below illustrates how the integrated buffer manages file transfers, and makes linear write performance appear even yet unsteady. The results seen here are still relatively consistent compared to most other SSD products we've tested in the past. The ADATA S599 recorded an average linear write-to speed of 249.3 MBps, with a maximum performance of 254.7 MBps.

The chart below shows the average linear read and write bandwidth speeds for a cross-section of SATA storage devices tested with EVEREST:

Linear bandwidth certainly benefits the Solid State Drive, since there's very little fluctuation in transfer speed. Hard Disk Drive products decline in performance as the spindle reaches the inner-most sectors on the magnetic platter. I personally consider linear tests to be the single most important comparison of storage drive products, although hard disk drive products decrease performance as they reach the edge of the spindle, SSD products operate at a relatively smooth speed from start to finish.

The AS-SSD Benchmark and CrystalDiskMark 3.0 results have been updated, and comparison charts are now included. The new data reflects test results with 4K IOPS performance in mind. I have also removed HD-Tune entirely, since we've discovered that the random IOPS portion of this tool is not useful for SSDs.

You ARE missing the ADATA S599 from the DiskMark AND the HDTune IOPS charts.

I read your article and it was ok but you really have to make sure that all tested items are on the charts if you expect consumers to make informed choices... I'm sure that ADATA would appreciate that most of all because at least on paper, they seem to have a smoking fast product.

Although the details are listed, the missing chart information is misleading to people who just scan through the article. I suggest you publish all of your data in the chart with a footnote stating "abnormal results". Thanks for including it in the written review, but it would be eye-opening to see it compared instead of just referred to.

Re H/P55 I have not done a lot of checks but I noticed a little bit faster access times, and slightly higher scores under AS SSD Benchmark, which I attribute to the H/P55 design being newer, and not a "Separate" chip, since the north and south bridge are both in the one chip, so the latency is a litttle lower...

Overall the difference between ICH10R and 55 series is fairly slight, just thought you should know that it's probably the best platform I've seen so far for SSD latency.

You can disregard this if you like, just trying to keep up awareness of different platforms

So I sent Adata an email about firmware updates:Me;So,When is the new updated firmware for this drive coming out?I've and othershave been waiting months for it.As the 3.4.6 firmware has heat issues.

Adata;The firmware updates are released by Sandforce and we have not gotten any update on new firmware. However, if you are experiencing issues please let us know we can replace for a new S599, or exchange for S596 Turbo.